Page 122 - Advanced Apologetics and World Views Revised

What is a believer to do? Should we ignore denominations? Should we just not go to church and worship
on our own at home? The answer to both questions is no. What we should be seeking is a body of
believers where the Gospel of Christ is preached, where you as an individual can have a personal
relationship with the Lord, where you can join in biblical ministries that are spreading the Gospel and
glorifying God. Church is important, and all believers need to belong to a body that fits the above
criteria. We need relationships that can only be found in the body of believers, we need the support that
only the church can offer, and we need to serve God in community as well as individually. Pick a church
based on its relationship to Christ and how well it is serving the community. Pick a church where the
pastor is preaching the Gospel without fear and is encouraged to do so. As believers, there are certain
basic doctrines that we must believe, but beyond that there is latitude on how we can serve and
worship; it is this latitude that is the only good reason for denominations. This is diversity and not
disunity. The first allows us to be individuals in Christ; the latter divides and destroys.

For more information about denominations, watch these clips:
Church Denominations Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjNjJxy_-aY
Why are there different denominations? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdH2B_1GtIo

Why are there so many denominations?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfVoa1sJd-E

I see people to claim to be a Christian but live no better than I do. How valid is their
claims? Aren’t most Christians a bunch of hypocrites? lxxxvi

In essence, “hypocrisy” refers to the act of claiming to believe something
but acting in a different manner. The word is derived from the Greek term
for “actor”—literally, “one who wears a mask”—in other words, someone
who pretends to be what he is not.

The Bible calls hypocrisy a sin. There are two forms hypocrisy can take: that
of professing belief in something and then acting in a manner contrary to
that belief, and that of looking down on others when we ourselves are flawed.

The prophet Isaiah condemned the hypocrisy of his day: “The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me
with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is
made up only of rules taught by men’” (Isaiah 29:13). Centuries later, Jesus quoted this verse, aiming the
same condemnation at the religious leaders of His day (Matthew 15:8-9). John the Baptist refused to
give hypocrites a pass, telling them to produce “fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:8). Jesus took an
equally staunch stand against sanctimony—He called hypocrites “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew
7:15), “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), “snakes,” and “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33).

We cannot say we love God if we do not love our brothers (1 John 2:9). Love must be “without
hypocrisy” (Romans 12:9, NKJV). A hypocrite may look righteous on the outside, but it is a façade. True

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